Dark Sanctuary
L'etre Las - L'Envers Du Miroir

The Dark Sanctuary are a French band whose music could be described as gothic-neoclassical. Their melancholic tones, resulting from the frequent dragging of notes, create an atmosphere that is melancholic, sweet but decidedly dark.

The rhythm is always slow, and the seven notes are combined to produce very sweet melodies; the tracks follow one another in a continuum that one would wish to be infinite... no oddities, just music highlighted by the use of percussion that discreetly and creatively accents some passages without ever imposing itself. The best quality of the band is, in my opinion, the balance created between the voice of the mezzo-soprano Dame Pandora and the orchestra composed of keyboards, violins, acoustic guitars, synthesizer, and percussion.

The album "L'être Las - l'envers du miroir", from 2003, is the band's third release and all of Dark Sanctuary's productions are of high quality. The band's style may remind one of Elend. Drawing a comparison from architecture, I would say Dark Sanctuary is to Elend what a Renaissance church is to a Gothic cathedral; Elend is severe, Dark Sanctuary is soft and harmonious. "Les affres de la crémation" opens with the breath of a classical piece by Sibelius, into which Dame Pandora's voice naturally melds with the sweet French language, and then gives way to piano and violins, finally only to the latter with a melody repeated like the waves of the sea crashing regularly on the shore. From the somber but never despairing tones of Dark Sanctuary, I find consolation; in the regularity of the musical structure, with its minimal variations, I feel that life goes on, you don't know where it will take you, but everything has an order. The track "L'envers du miroir" makes me think of timeless and traditional folk songs, and of a mother calming a child by telling him a beautiful story sung. "La rencontre fatale" has darker tones, of suspense and foreboding of something mysterious and fascinating.

Of exquisite craftsmanship, Dark Sanctuary deserves the visit of those who prefer a type of twilight music that stimulates the imagination by capturing the listener in enveloping atmospheres and encourages escape from the banal everyday life.

This is my first review; if you drool for more from me, just tell me hehehehehehe.